Robert Blake Case Files
On the evening of May 4, 2001, actor Robert Blake (Baretta, In Cold Blood)
and his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, ate dinner at an Italian restaurant in the
Studio City section of Los Angeles, Vitellos. Afterward, according to
Blake, the couple walked the block and a half to their car, whereupon
Blake realized he'd left his gun inside the restaurant -- a gun he was
carrying because Bakley believed her life was in danger. Blake left Bakley
in the car and walked back to the restaurant.
Nobody in the restaurant remembers Blake actually retrieving anything: He
apparently drank a glass of water and returned to his car where he
discovered Bakley had been shot to death.
Suspicion quickly pointed to Blake and, just as quickly, his lawyer, Harland Braun, began to spin the story to emphasize Bakley's somewhat sordid past (she could most charitably be referred to as a con artist), suggesting that any number of people had reason to have wanted her dead, for just as many different reasons. The marriage itself, though, had been described as "troubled" -- Blake only married Bakley because she was pregnant with his child -- and according to some acquaintances, the couple rarely went out to eat together.
Robert Blake Mini-Gallery
Robert Blake - FILMOGRAPHY
... aka Father of Hell Town (1985) (TV)
... aka Joe Dancer (1981) (TV) (USA: reissue title)
... aka George Stevens Presents The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) (USA: complete title)
... aka Stadt ohne Mitleid (1961) (West Germany)
... aka Ville sans pitié (1961) (Switzerland: literal title French title)
... aka Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, The (1947)
... aka Flame of Sacramento (1952) (USA: reissue title)
... aka Seven Crosses, The (1944)
... aka Highway to Freedom (1942) (UK)
... aka Kiddie Cure (1940)
... aka In Love Again (1940) (USA: preview title)
... aka Maiden Voyage (1939)
Handwritten Bakley Notes Found In Blakes
Home
Robert Blake - A Biography
Wide-eyed little Bobby Blake began his acting career as an Our Gang kid
and eventually matured into one of Hollywood's finest actors. Born Michael
Gubitosi, the boy was two years old when he joined his family vaudeville
act, "The Three Little Hillbillies." The act was doomed to failure, as
were most of the pipe dreams of the Gubitosi family. Relocating from New
Jersey to California, Michael's mom found work for her kids as extras at
the MGM studios. The young Gubitosi impressed the producers of the Our
Gang series, and as a result the six-year-old was elevated to star status
in the short subjects series. Little Mickey Gubitosi whined and whimpered
his way through 40 Our Gang shorts, reaching an artistic low point with
the execrable All About Hash (1940).
During his five-year tenure with the series, the boy anglicized his
professional name to Bobby Blake. Freelancing after 1944, Blake's
performing skills improved immeasurably, especially when he was cast as
Indian sidekick Little Beaver in Republic's Red Ryder series. He also
registered well in his appearances in Warner Bros. films, playing such
roles as the younger John Garfield in Humoresque (1946) and the Mexican
kid who sells Bogart the crucial lottery ticket in The Treasure of the
Sierra Madre (1948). Though sporadically happy in his work (one of his
most pleasurable assignments was the otherwise forgettable Laurel and
Hardy feature The Big Noise, 1944), Bobby Blake was an unhappy child,
weighed down by a miserable home life. At 16, Blake dropped out of sight
for a few years, a reportedly difficult period in his life.
Upon claiming a 16,000-dollar nest egg at age 21, however, Blake began
turning his life around, both personally and professionally. He
matriculated into a genuine actor rather than a mere "cute" personality,
essaying choice dramatic roles in both films and TV. He starred in the
Allied Artists gangster flick The Purple Gang (1960), played featured
roles in such films as PT 109 (1963), Ensign Pulver (1964), and The
Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and guest starred on dozens of TV shows.
In 1963, he was one of 12 character actors amalgamated into the "repertory
company" on the weekly anthology series The Richard Boone Show; he spent
the next 26 weeks playing everything from agreeable office boys to fevered
dope addicts. His true breakthrough role came in 1967, when he was cast as
real-life multiple murderer Perry Smith in Richard Brooks' filmization of
In Cold Blood.
Even after this career boost, Blake often found the going rough in
Hollywood, due as much to his own pugnacious behavior as to typecasting.
He did, however, star in such worthwhile efforts as Tell Them Willie Boy
Is Here (1969) and Electra Glide in Blue (1973). Blake achieved
full-fledged stardom at last with his three-year (1975-1978) starring
stint on the TV cop series Baretta, adding to his already sizeable fan
following via several lively, tell-all guest appearances on The Tonight
Show, The Merv Griffin Show, and several other video chat fests. Despite
his never-ending battles with the ABC executives during the Baretta run,
Blake stuck out the series long enough to win an Emmy, and even got to
direct an episode or two.
Forming his own production company, Blake made several subsequent tries at
TV-series success: Hell Town (1985), in which he starred as a barrio
priest, lasted 13 weeks, while the private-eye endeavor Jake Dancer never
got past its three pilot films. He has been more successful with such
one-shots as the TV miniseries Hoffa (1983), in which he played the title
character with chilling accuracy, and the 1993 TV biopic Judgment Day: The
John List Story, which earned him another Emmy. His later film appearances
were in hard-nosed character parts, such as 1995's The Money Train. Though
he's managed to purge some of his personal demons over the years, Robert
Blake remains as feisty, outspoken, and unpredictable as ever, especially
when given an open forum by such talk show hosts as Tom Snyder.
The Murder Weapon
Transcript of Phone Conversation Taped By
Bakley
Who Was Bonny Lee Bakley?
The 44-year-old Bakley, who went by several aliases, had
been married numerous times - so many in fact, that several of her former
husbands don't know how many marriages she's had or whether she was even
divorced when she remarried.
She also made a living running a lonely hearts scheme, sending provocative
pictures of herself to men with the promise of visiting them if they sent
her money. After receiving money, she would never show.
By the time she died she had accumulated an estate that included three
houses.
Bakley's past was further checkered by a criminal record. She had been
convicted in Arkansas for possessing false identifications.
Bakley also had a history of pursuing celebrities. She claimed to have had
an affair with rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis and borne his child, a girl she
named Jeri Lee, but DNA tests later proved he was not the father. Lewis
has denied having a relationship with Bakley.
Tapes of Bakley's phone conversations reveal that she was starstruck and
bent on marrying someone famous.
"I like being around celebrities," she said on one tape. "It makes you
feel better than other people."
Initially, Bakley believed the her fourth child, a baby girl, was fathered
by Christian Brando, son of Marlon Brando. Bakley claimed to have become
involved with him after he was released from prison after serving half of
a 10-year sentenced for manslaughter for killing his half-sister's
boyfriend in 1990.
She named her daughter Christian Shannon Brando, but later told Blake she
wasn't sure if the baby was Brando's. When a DNA test determined that it
was Blake, not Brando, that was the father of Bakley's youngest child,
Blake agreed to marry her.
Bonnie Lee Bakley Mini-Gallery
Life Imitates Art?
You have to see the ironic pilot episode of Blakes career highpoint, the cop show Baretta - in which detective Tony Baretta (Blake) must cope with the killing of his new wife outside of an Italian restaurant. Is that crazy strange or what?
The Case Raises Two Huge, Difficult Questions:
Did This Man Do It?
And Did She Have It Coming?
Dead At The Scene
